Walmart is burning through alot of cash in Japan, as many foreign companies do, trying to teach another culture to do things their way. Of course it never works, but that doesn't seem to stop the never-ending parade of people who are hell bent on trying.
They've gone the route of investing into a grocery chain call Seiyu, which was a pretty nice chain before. Not low-end at all, it was classy with a great variety of fresh foods presented well.
Japan is still living in the 1960's in some ways. Married women rarely work. They stay at home to raise the children and do all the things around the house like you read about in old "Life" magazines. They go shopping for food every day, or every other day. A small hand basket of fresh food to be cooked and eaten that evening or maybe tomorrow, too.
That hasn't stopped Walmart from trying to turn the stores into unsightly places full of crap no one wants, piled to the ceiling in portions no one buys. I went to one the other day and saw they had American beef (very rare in Japan now) featured in a big display. The stuff was lousy cuts you wouldn't serve to a dog and black and green around the edges - rotten. The hamburger was saturated in water to add weight (like we're all so dumb to notice?) and, surprsingly, not too many customers. Hmmm...
They'll be gone from here in few years, just like all the others before them.
